+- Scivillage.com Casual Discussion Science Forum (https://www.scivillage.com)
+-- Forum: Culture (https://www.scivillage.com/forum-49.html)
+--- Forum: Style & Fashion (https://www.scivillage.com/forum-132.html)
+--- Thread: Inside the booming Muslim fashion industry (/thread-3606.html)
Inside the booming Muslim fashion industry - C C - Apr 30, 2017
Inside the booming Muslim fashion industry (Jan 30, 2016)
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/01/booming-muslim-fashion-industry-160124132747636.html
EXCERPT: Today, according to the 2015-2016 State of the Global Islamic Economy Report, Muslim consumers spend an estimated $230bn on clothing, a number that is projected to grow to $327bn by 2019 - larger than the current combined clothing markets of the UK ($107bn), Germany ($99bn) and India ($96bn). "Overall clothing purchase by Muslim consumers does not directly translate into Islamic fashion," Rafi-Uddin Shikoh, the person behind the study, explains. "But there are a number of drivers that suggest the modest fashion industry will be growing towards those numbers."
First of all, there is the "importance of religion" in people's life. Compared with Europe, where only one in three respondents deem religion important, or the US where that percentage hovers at around 50 percent, in majority Muslim countries 88 percent of the population define religion as important.
Secondly, there are the demographics. The average age in Muslim majority countries is about 30, in Europe and the US it is about 44. This is very important as the purchasing power of young consumers tends to grow over the years.
The third important driver is an economic one. The gross domestic product of countries with a majority Muslim population is projected to grow at an average of 5.4 percent a year compared with the 3.4 percent of Europe and the US over the next few years.
Last but not least, 29 percent of the global population is projected to be Muslim by 2030. These are numbers that seemingly cannot be ignored, and, unsurprisingly perhaps, the number of fashionistas, entrepreneurs and designers rushing to seize the opportunity this presents is growing by the day....
The pitfalls of Islamic fashion (April 20, 2017)
http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21721154-search-mainstream-markets-muslim-textile-designers-are-pushing
In search of mainstream markets, Muslim textile designers are pushing the boundaries of sharia compliance...
London show reflects global boom in Islamic fashion (May 29, 2016)
https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2016/may/29/london-show-reflects-global-boom-in-islamic-fashion
Organisers say the Saverah Expo is aimed at empowering Muslim women: ‘We have a voice and a lifestyle, we start businesses, we don’t fit the stereotype’...
Turkey’s Islamic Fashion Revolution (September 17, 2016)
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/world/europe/turkeys-islamic-fashion-revolution.html
EXCERPT: [...] Islamic fashion here is a colorful, creative and joyful enterprise. It is also a huge business. “We’re taking over,” said Dina Torkia, a Muslim fashion blogger from London, who wears a head scarf and was mobbed by fans hoping for a photo. “There are a lot of us Muslim girls who wear the hijab, and we like fashion.”
[...] Istanbul has sought to become an Islamic fashion capital, an ambition that reflects the degree to which Turkish society has been reshaped under the Islamist government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Under Turkey’s old hard-line secular system, the head scarf, or hijab, was seen as a symbol of backwardness and banned in government offices and schools. In recent weeks, as France debated the burkini, Turkey again chipped away at old taboos, allowing female police officers, for the first time, to wear head scarves on the job.
No longer an object of derision in Turkey — and with the backing of the Islamist government — the head scarf has spurred an Islamic fashion revolution, complete with fashion houses, magazines, bloggers and Instagram stars. Powerful women in the region, like Mr. Erdogan’s wife, Emine, and Sheikha Mozah, a wife of a former emir of Qatar, have become fashion icons for young conservative women....